Process for regenerating and devulcanizing india-rubber or caoutchouc and extraction of caoutchouc from raw materials containing caoutchouc.



UNITE STATE PAENT @FIQE.

GEZA AUSTERWEIL, OF NEUILLY, NEAR PARIS, FRANCE.

PROCESS FOR REGENERATING AND DEVULCANIZING INDIA-RUBBER OR CAOUTCHOUC AND EXTRACTION 0F CAOUTCHOUC FROM RAW MATERIALS CONTAINING CAOUT- CHOU-C.

961,395. Specification of Letters Patent.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GIEZA AUsTERWEIL, chemist, subject of the King of Hungary, residing at 118 Boulevard Bineau, Neuilly, near Paris, in the Republic of France, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes for Regenerating and Devulcanizing India-Rubber or Caoutchoucand Extraction of Caoutchouc from Raw Materials Containing Caoutchouc, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The regeneration and devulcanization of waste caoutchouc by means of terpineols or oxidized terpenes is well known (see French PatentNo. 370,619, Tixier). I have found that the terpene hydrocarbon limonene, in-

cluding both the optically active. Varieties and the inactive modification dipentene, may be advantageously employed, both for recovering waste rubber and for treating the primary caoutchouc-bearing materials. The improved "technical action results from the fact that limonene is a simple homologue of caoutchouc, and dissolves it better than the oxidized hydrocarbons.

.The-"complete process is characterized by the fol-lowing steps: Vulcanized caoutchouc,

' caoutchouc scrap, or caoutchouc-containing raw material, is treated with an excess of limonene, 4 or 5 parts by weight bein referably employed. For the purposeo f drnr ing a solution, the mixture of the caoutchouc I with limonene isheated for an hour under bleresidue, and is preferably treated with a light aromatic hydrocarbon such for example as benzene or toluene or the like. This mixture is then allowed to stand for some Patented Jane I4, ieio.

Application filed Novemberll, 1908. Serial No. 462,025.

time, is decanted afresh, and the solution is treated with a suitable caoutchouc precipitant, such as a primary alcohol-of the fatty series, or acetone. The precipitated caout chouc is washed with warm water and dried at about 100 C., and has all the characteris tic features of natural caoutchouc.

.The process is facilitated by allowing the caoutchouc to stand for a suitable time in limonene, thus causing it to swell.

The term limonene, as used in the claims, is intended to include its optically inactive form, dipentene.

I claim l. The process of regenerating and devulcanizing caoutchouc-waste or scrap, and of extracting natural caoutchouc from raw materials, which consists in treating the material with limonene.

2. The process of recovering caoutchouc from caoutchouc-waste or scrap and raw materials, which consists in treating the material with an excess of limonene, decanting oil the undissolved residues precipitating by means of a suitable caoutchouc precipitant, washing and drying.

3. The process of recovering caoutchouc from caoutchouc-waste or scrap and raw ma terials, which consists in treating the material with an excess of limonene, decanting oil the undissolved residues, treating with light, aromatic hydrocarbons, and after frequent decantation precipitating by means of a suitable caoutchouc precipitant, wash ing and drying.

In witness whereof,I subscribe my signnv ture, in presence of two witnesses.

GEZA AUSTERWEIL. Vitnesses MAX HERZENBERG, H. C. Coxn. 

